Blame French say Pro12

BOSSES of the Pro12 insist there must be a return to the previous play-off system to allocate the final Champions Cup spot rather than maintaining automatic entry for the Challenge Cup winners.

Governing body European Professional Club Rugby were open to allowing last season’s process to continue, which saw winners Montpellier granted a Champions Cup place.

However there is a worry that the Challenge Cup is not quite challenge enough, with French sides often resting players.

Instead, there will be a playoff between the seventhplaced side in the Aviva Premiership and the eight best finishers in the Pro12.

The winners of that then face the seventh-ranked team in the French Top 14 to decide who gets the Champions Cup berth.

It’s the first time Wales has had just one representative in the Champions Cup and it means there will be no pathway for the other three Welsh regions - Blues, Ospreys, and Dragons should they go all the way.

A Pro12 official said: “It’s not our fault many of the French clubs don’t seem to care about the Challenge Cup. The Pro12 teams certainly take the Challenge Cup seriously and it’s up to the French to get their own house in order.

“We have made it quite clear to EPCR the play-off system must be reintroduced, as was in the original heads of agreement.

“We categorically told EPCR we wouldn’t agree to the Challenge Cup winner, apart from in World Cup year, being parachuted into the Champions Cup and it has accepted it has to honour that position.”

Montpellier lifted last year’s trophy but fielded weakened teams in the early rounds before taking the tournament more seriously in the knockout stages.